Gandhi is Dead. Truly.

Share Yesterday a friend sent me a Facebook page for Mahatma Gandhi and I couldn't wait to hit the "accept" button. Who, after all, would not want to be friends-- well, at least Facebook friends -- with the greatest soul to walk the earth, even if he's been dead for more than 60 years now?

The wall was filled with messages from people around the world. "We miss you," wrote one person. "Bapu is the best," wrote another. My friend, Seema, who sent me the invite, wrote: "Would give anything to meet you, Bapu.. just once!"

But why do we miss Bapu, or Gandhi, so much today, when we have moved away so far from him?

Take Gandhi's land of birth, Gujarat, in western India. The state that sired the apostle of peace -- who fasted until he almost died to stop the terrible riots that followed the partition of India and Pakistan-- is now led by an incendiary Hindu radical who faces charges for leading his state into one of the worst Hindu-Muslim riots ever witnessed on Indian soil (some consider it a genocide). The United States a few years back denied Narendra Modi, Gujarat's chief minister, entry into the country citing violations of religious freedom. But Modi remains extremely popular in his state and continues to win elections, which is by itself a terrifying fact.

In Gandhi's India, for which he gave his life, the religious divide between groups of Indians has never been deeper. A dangerous sense of bigotry seems to be sweeping over a nation that was once so proud of its tradition of tolerance and secularism. The web is filled with propaganda from Hindu extremists who seem to be modeling themselves after religious radicals around the world, and I sometimes see even friends who I once thought intelligent reflecting the hatred fed to them by these extreme points of view.

Equally bad, as the middle class in India thrives, it is leaving behind the poor, the very people Gandhi cared for. The farmers who live in India's villages have been consumed by an epidemic of suicide as multinationals take away the seeds that were once their livelihood and stamp them with patents. The strong tradition of vegetarianism and kindness toward animals in India, of which Gandhi was such a champion, is receding under an onslaught of meat-selling restaurant chains that make eating defenseless animals appear "hip." Worse, factory farming, where animals are mass-bred, abused and tortured like no living being should be-- before being milked or killed for food-- is fast replacing traditional methods of raising animals for food.

As for the rest of the world? Never before, perhaps, has there been so much violence, so much suffering, or at least the awareness of it. Terrorism, war, poverty, greed...violence in every form imaginable is rampant in our times. Even our home, Earth, has not been spared as we rob and pillage her, destroying the environment regardless of the future of our children.

So when I saw all those messages for Bapu, cynic that I am, I wondered what on earth would we do with Gandhi, if we were to get him all over again?

It's not like we've heeded any of what he said. Maybe we didn't deserve him the first time round.

Help the animals of Haiti

(Picture from Los Angeles Times)

If you are an animal lover, like me, you've no doubt wondered who is helping the animals of Haiti who are surely as -- if not more-- scared and shaken and destitute as any human being there, following the devastating earthquake.

So I was thrilled to learn that they have a savior: the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti, or ARCH, set up by groups including the Best Friends Animal Society, The Humane Society of the United States and the ASPCA, is working on the ground to bring relief to the animals in the form of veterinary and food aid. They need your help, either in cash or -- if you can do it-- as on-the-ground volunteers.

Visit this link for more information. You can donate either by credit card or through your cell phone. According to the Best Friends Animal Society, ARCH will also focus on creating a long-term plan that includes options for veterinary care, a large-scale vaccination program and services for animal population control. And 100 percent of your donation goes to help the animals-- so what's your excuse?

Vegetable Puffs With Homemade Puff Pastry

Train journeys in India are the stuff of mystery, drama and good eats.

Mystery because you may have waited an hour in line to get your reserved seat but when you're actually in the train there's no guarantee it's going to be empty and waiting for you. And if you're the kind that shirks from some yelling and threatening and asserting, rest assured you will be standing for however long it takes to make the journey.

Drama because chances are the bathrooms are filthy, the taps will run dry by the time you are halfway into your journey, the window won't close, and, if you fall asleep despite all this, you will be jolted awake at 3 in the morning by someone hoping to make a buck by wailing a plaintive song in your ear.

And good eats because everyone on the train has packed an endless supply of homemade treats that they often don't mind sharing. If you are seated next to a Gujarati, you'd no doubt get to savor at least the aromas and usually the flavors of chickpea-flour-based treats like khandvi and dhokla. A Maharashtrian might pack kande pohe or sabudana khichdi (made with sago pearls). And a Tamilian would carry, in one of those multi-storeyed steel tiffin carriers, some tamarind rice, lemon rice, curd rice and maybe a few delicious white idlis with spicy green coconut chutney.

Each railway station the train pulls into is also a delightful punctuation of treats so unique, sometimes, I think, I'd look forward to traveling just so I could eat them.

I remember drinking tea early one morning in little earthen khullads at Bhopal station en route to Delhi. The khullads added their own salty flavor to the tea which took some getting used to, but wasn't unpleasant at all. I remember wondering how anyone could eat deep-fried foods for breakfast, then nevertheless chomping down phapdas -- long, deep-fried chickpea savories-- at 7 a.m. on the way to Okha in Gujarat.

After Desi and I were married, we would travel at least once a year and sometimes twice to Madras in south India where his parents lived. The train journey to Madras from Bombay was a long one, stretching over 26 hours. But a great way to make the journey bearable was to line it start-to-end with food.

Methi-Mushroom Curry

This curry is sort of a mish-mash of global flavors and things left over in my fridge, but it worked so well, I thought I'd post it for you.

The base for this curry is a lot like a Spanish sofrito-- onions, bell peppers and tomatoes. I used canned, pureed tomatoes, but be sure to dice the onions and bell peppers really small. I also had a bunch of methi (fenugreek) leaves crying out to be used, so in they went.

To spice up my curry, I used a mix of garam masala and chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, my favorite Latin American product-- its smoky, sizzling-hot richness gives just that hint of added mystery and oomph, I think, to some spicy Indian dishes.

Methi, for those who are not familiar with it, is one of the best greens you can eat for your health. Its pleasant bitterness is said to work wonders for diabetics and in reducing cholesterol levels. The small, oval, dark-green leaves and bitter flavor distantly resemble watercress, although methi is tougher and needs more cooking time to make it reach its full delicious potential.

A Song For You

So here I am on a Friday evening, just getting off work, and without a recipe to share but eager to share something with you nonetheless.

So here's a great song to take you into the weekend. This song is probably Desi's favorite, or at least in his top 5, and you can see why: the lyrics are gorgeous, Geeta Dutt's voice (in playback) -- almost stark naked with just a hint of music in the background-- is exquisite, and the simple black-and-white video makes a perfect setting.

I'll be back in a day or two with a recipe. Meanwhile-- enjoy!

Haldi ka Soy-doodh

Haldi ka Doodh is milk mixed with a number of cold-fighting spices and it is a great Indian housewives remedy that's stood the tests of time and science. The star of this drink is turmeric, that golden spice that gives a lot of Indian food its fabulous color.

Its color, though, is not the real reason turmeric (haldi) is prized in an Indian kitchen. Instead, our grandmothers and their grandmothers have long known what scientists around the world have only recently started to verify-- that curcumin, a component of turmeric, is a super antioxidant and anti-inflammatory with properties that help fight infection. What's more, it also helps fight cancer, alleviate arthritis pain and soothe stomach disorders.

In India, in the absence of an antiseptic cream on hand, anyone knows to grab a pinch of turmeric and place it on a bleeding wound to nip in the bud any possibility of infection. It can be a bit messy-- because turmeric does stain-- but you can't beat it for effectivness.

Orange Cupcakes With Buttercream Frosting

I am not usually sentimental about ringing out an old year and ringing in a new one. After all, for most of us the new year is nothing more than a continuation of the same old same old except, of course, at birthdays when you get to add a whole extra digit to your age-- and that's not really cause for celebration, is it?

But, I have to say, I am glad 2009 is gone. Whew!

Most of you know what I'm talking about. The whole country-- and many other parts of the world-- reeled under a recession. It hurt to read news of foreclosures and hardworking people losing their jobs and homes. I read a statistic recently that said 50 million Americans did not have enough to eat at some point in 2009. The number of people without healthcare rocketed. Shelters groaned under the excess burden of animals left homeless by families that were moving or had lost their homes.

I am not saying that a new calendar is going to magically make everything better. But there are definite signs that things are finally looking up and that 2010 could be a better year than its predecessor.

This past year was also the year when an industry I worked for, the American newspaper industry, went through its worst period, perhaps ever. As more and more readers turned to the Internet for news, most newspapers -- including industry giants like the New York Times and USA Today -- were forced to cut costs and intiate mass layoffs or buyouts. A few newspapers closed shop or went completely online, including the Seattle Post Intelligencer and the Rocky Mountain News.

Then, just as it seemed 2009 could do no more harm, Washington Times, my hometown newspaper, cut nearly half its staff on Dec. 30. For me, this hit close to home. The Times is where I started my career in the United States, first as a reporter on the Metro desk covering schools and later covering Maryland government.